A Chronic's Mushroom Diary, Part Two

Some of you have read the first part of this clusterhead's journal. I posted it on October 2, and I have provided a link to it at the bottom of this post if you want to refresh your memory.

I received this installment a while ago, but delayed posting it until I did some research into the lithium connection he mentions. I will add more detail re: lithium a bit later, but I want to point out now that lithium is NOT a MAO inhibitor.

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Pinky,

Here is my 2nd post that picks up where the first one ended. Some goodnews, some not so good. Read on......

Wed Oct 3rd:Well, last night was a pretty bad night again. I had several CH throughoutthe evening, nothing major in intensity. I did get woken up 2 times duringthe night as well. Again, both small (kip 2) attacks that were aborted withoxygen.

Thursday Oct 4th:Feeling better today (energy wise). The CH attacks started this morning at9:30. They continued sporadically throughout the entire day and evening -although they were all minor (kip 1) level. 100 % pure oxygen is now mynewest best friend.

Friday Oct 5th:I am feeling better as each day goes by. Only had 2 small attacks duringthe day. Again, oxygen easily took them away. During the evening (around6:30) more small ones started (about 6 of them), and were very persistent.When I finally decided that they were gone for the evening, I went to bed(about 1:00). At 2:00, I woke up with another CH. But this one did notstop ramping up, it ended up a kip 10!! Damn, that is the rudest way to bewoken from sleep. Anyhow, this one I aborted with Imitrex as I couldn'thold out any longer. Finally back to sleep at 3:00 - damn tired.

Saturday Oct 6th:Woke up pretty late today. More CH started hitting me around 2:30 in theafternoon. They continued throughout the afternoon (all kip 1 and kip 2level) This is really starting to suck. I finally (as of Saturday) haveenough dried for another treatment (about 3 grams). At 6:30, I started todice them up, and got vitamin c, cranberry juice and coffee ready. Then Iremembered reading somewhere that if you take something called a MAOI, itwill enhance the effects. I looked on the web a little bit and found outthat Lithium (which I have great supply of) is a MAOI (Monoamine OxidaseInhibitor). I then had the bright idea of taking 300 mg of Lithium about20-30 minutes prior to the shrooms. My intent was not to enhance the shroomeffects, but rather hoping that if Lithium seemed to help me, maybe theshrooms would enhance the effect of what the Lithium is trying to do.Needless to say, it was a dumb idea. I mean, it was a fucking god damnstupid assed thing to do. I took 3 grams dried P. Cubensis, with juice andcoffee, and 300 mg of Lithium - all on an empty stomach. I will not bedoing this again, I repeat NOT be doing this again. It was the most intenseexperience I have ever had in my life. It was not a smooth enjoyableexperience as the other times had been, it was so fucking intense!!!!!!! Icould not wait until I could come down from it. The major intensity lastedabout 2 1/2 hours, and the overall effects lasted about 5 hours. Note thelast 2 1/2 hours were just fine, but I will NOT be doing that again....The next day I found out via the dosage calculator on the shroomery.org sitethat I basically had the equivalent of 6 grams dried - which sets you intothe trip level 5 range. I can not describe what I saw in there as wordscould not do it justice. Although they are correct when they say thatthings all tend to morph into different things, and there really is (atleast I believe it now) another universe out there as strange as that maysound. But it was just way to intense, so I wont be doing that again.

Sunday Oct 7th:Woke up this morning at 8:15, feeling fine other than having a mild normaltype of headache. Got out of bed and started to get the coffee brewing. At8:30, I got hit with a kip 2. And got several more minor ones throughoutthe day. I decided that evening that I was going to start taking themedications again. Here are my reasons: I won't have enough shrooms inanother 5 days for another dose. (I'm working on it though!). As we allknow, stress can add to CH, and me always going along in 5 day stretches -wondering if I would have enough for the next dose - was more than likelyadding to my constant attacks. Next time (and there will be) I will be morethan ready. Trust me on this one. So I started taking the meds in theevening. Still had a couple more (about 4) small kip 2 level attacks.

Monday Oct 8th:Wow! I slept through the night again. That is twice in a row. Damn, I amgetting pretty spoiled now..... as of writing this (9:00 PM) I haven't hadany CH attacks. But I sure have shadowed heavily a couple timesthroughout the day. Also as of today, I have started working with rye grain(versus vermiculite and rice) for the substrate. I am hoping to produce abunch of shrooms in a short period of time (wish me luck). Then I will goback and do battle with the beast. I feel like I have lost this battle, butI will still win the war!

Of particular note, I have been very chronic with CH for many years now.Using Pinky's 'Leaky Faucet' analogy, I evidently have not been able to findmy point where only the drip is going on. If any of you chronics have anytips or pointers on how you were able to succeed, please share this with me.Overall, I can indeed attest that this treatment is having a positive effecton the CH. This time, I ended up taking a knife to a gun fight. Next time,I will take a Panzer tank to the gunfight - and we'll see who wins!